1st Edition
Performing Emancipatory Rites of Passage
List of Contributors
Foreword
Shadd Maruna
Introduction
PART I. Deliberate Applications of a Rite of Passage Model
1 From Theater to Rite of Passage: Discovering an Antidote to the Degradation of Incarceration
Kevin Bott
2 The Process of Enacting a Ritual for Return
Kevin Bott
3 Becoming Diamonds and Pearls: Development of Black Identity through Fraternity and Sorority Rites of Passage
Alvin Logan, Jr.
4 Celebrating Life with End-of-Life Rituals
Loren Talbot and Omni Kitts Ferrara with International End-of-Life Doula Association members
PART II. Rites of Passage as Tool
5 Passages to Utopia
Stephen Duncombe
6 Story Circles as Liminal Space: Supporting Gender Diversity in Schools
Jane F. Gilrain
7 Polyamorous Paradigm Shift as Passage
Joli Hamilton
8 The Afternoon of Life
Jan Cohen-Cruz
PART III. Rites of Passage as Resonance
9 DE-CRUITing as Rite of Passage
Interview with Stephan Wolfert conducted by Jan Cohen-Cruz
10 The New Orleans Jazz Funeral as Rite of Passage
Michael G. White
Afterword: Emancipatory Rites of Passage and Applied Performance
Applied Performance 176
Jan Cohen-Cruz and Kevin Bott
Biography
Kevin Bott, founder of Ritual4Return Inc., oversees the online division of Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University (USA). In addition to his work at the intersection of criminal justice and the arts, Kevin has created community-based theater pieces about race, justice, and democracy. Previously, Kevin served as the associate director of the national arts and humanities consortium, Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life.
Jan Cohen-Cruz taught at NYU (USA) for 28 years, creating their applied theater program. She directed Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life (2007–2011), launching their journal Public. Jan served as director of field research for A Blade of Grass (2011–2016), supporting socially engaged artists. Co/author or co/editor of nine books, her most recent project is a podcast available through the digital theater platform HowlRound.
"A remarkable collection of multidisciplinary essays that turns upside down conventional assumptions about rites of passage. Editors and writers creatively and critically challenge the notion that rites rubberstamp existing social structures."
Ronald L Grimes, Professor Emeritus, Ritual Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada; author, Deeply into the Bone: Re-Inventing Rites of Passage
"The authors take the reader to rites of passages for the formerly incarcerated, the polyamorous, trans youth, and beyond, demonstrating the emancipatory potential of these rites, viewed through a performance studies lens. Revelatory!"
Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Professor Emerita, Performance Studies, NYU, USA
"Through compelling case studies, the authors challenge the cultural conservatism of traditional rituals, offering new ways to navigate and celebrate contemporary life and identities. This ground-breaking book will inspire performance-makers and remind readers of our shared vulnerability and the strength of human resilience."
Helen Nicholson, Professor, Theatre and Performance, Royal Holloway University of London, UK; author, Applied Drama: The Gift of Theatre
